halting chariot, and he is gone forever from human sight. Yet only
in the distance it seems a cloud. For John afterward says to
Quintus that it was in reality a phalanx of ten thousand angels,
robed in whiteness and sent to convoy the Son of God to glory
everlasting.

With Quintus that visit to Kurn Hattin shaped all his future. His
Master's countenance had seemed to him more wonderful than any face
which the gifted Phidias had ever carved in stone. But never in
after days could he worthily tell to Lucretia the vision he had
seen. Only in one poor sentence could he sum it up: "I have seen
for myself the risen and ascending Lord."




VI

CHRIST'S WITNESSES AT ROME

"A great multitude."--_Tacitus_.


With jubilation Quintus sees again the shores of Italy rise over
the Adriatic, and finds himself once more in his beloved Rome. The
center of magnificence and power it seems. Alter clamorous public
greetings in the Forum, there comes another welcome which happens
only in a returning soldier's life. In the palace of Marcus the
kindred of Quintus are gathered, and Lucretia also is in the
circle, to hear his great adventure.